For $100, A DIY Kit for Watching Roach Neurons

It’s often said that cockroaches will have the last laugh on us humans by surviving an apocalyptic nuclear war. Let the record show that before this happened, we got the better of roaches by turning them into the basis of DIY science kits built for students.

OK, I admit I had to laugh hard after reading the first line. However, I don´t support animal experiments.
Why would anyone want to do this?
Here is the answer Tim Marzullo has:

Tim Marzullo, one of Backyard Brains’s co-founders, explains that the company began as a way to perform nervous-system and brain experiments in front of high school and college students at a low cost. “It bothered us that we could not actually show what we did for a living to students,” says Marzullo, who has a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Michigan. “We wanted to see if we could record the electricity of neurons for less than $100 and show people how neurons work.”

Read the rest here
www.businessweek.com... 3-02/for-100-a-diy-kit-for-watching-roach-neurons#r=lr-fst

I think I am unique in that I firmly believe that cockroaches are intelligent beyond our understanding. I've seen them 'mourn' the dead. By that I mean, a large female went up to an infant that I'd just smooshed, and her antennae were drapsed over it, and when I returned the next morning, she was still there... I made motion to scare it, and she took off.

But a good 12 hours? It wasn't eating it either. Just lay next to it, and that kinda shocked me.

I've seen similar things with them before too..

So I couldn't play with this toy, I have a dirty feeling in the back of my mind every time I kill one of these buggers, but if they are intelligent enough, they'll learn "NOT IN MY HOUSE BOYO!" eventually.

99% instinct, but 1% something else.. I'll never know, can't stand them anyway lol

reply to post by StareDad


I have no love for roach kind. These roaches that we have here in Texas are freaking monsters. They will fly at you and bite you. I hope they all die painfully. Here is an example I pulled off of youtube. It's just a random video I found, I in no way know or would associate with the idiots playing with it in the video.

reply to post by winofiend


Your not alone in that. Roaches are smart.
2nd

Could i adapt this to use on myself

Nothing like probing your own brain

Shut up and take my money!

But seriously, that's pretty cool.
I wonder if this could be used on spiders?

More specifically, could it be used to make many of them respond to a signal to maybe seek out a target?
I want a spider army.